ONE OF THE BEST ITALIAN RESTAURANTS: Sopra, Pacific Place

I've mentioned Sopra in my y&y pizza post, saying it deserves its own post. And yes it does. I had an early dinner at Sopra with my sister today, because I was craaaaaaving for pizza and Sopra's pizzas are fresh and not junkfoody. It's located right above The Coffee Bean, on the 1st floor. Enter through the Hermes entrance, go left, and take the escalator.
I ordered the Stagioni pizza for both of us, a Minestrone for me, and my sister ordered a spaghetti carbonara.

While waiting for our food, all customers are given a bread basket with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, butter, chili, parmesan, and chili sauce. Also because of Tony Bourdain, I've been dreaming of warm, freshly baked bread that is crunchy outside and soft and buttery inside. And boy, this is it. They have awesome bread. They have this bread with black olives in it which is also awesome. It's just a basket of happy carbs. And in case you haven't noticed, carbs are my favorite food.

The minestrone doesn't look appetizing, does it? But God was it good. It's one of the very few soups that I don't put additional salt in, because it already tastes lovely. It's chock full of vegetables, it's hearty, flavourful, warm, and just great. I love soups, and now I have one more favorite bowl to add to my list. Even my sister that hates veggies loved the soup.

Look at that absolutely beautiful pizza. It's the Stagioni, whose toppings are slices of turkey, mushrooms, and artichokes. I love the fact that it has artichokes, haven't seen them much around here. I usually order the Bismarck, which has chicken, mushroom, and a sunny-side up egg in the center. My verdict is Bismarck is still the champion of all pizza, even though Stagioni is really good. The Stag is fresh, has a very strong tomato flavor, and punchy. The Bismarck is creamier, but spicier. I love both of them. What I love about Sopra's pizza is it's super crunchy and served straight out of the oven. It tastes authentic and rustic. Love em!!!

Other than their divine pizzas, Sopra has absolutely DELIGHTFUL pasta. My sister ordered a carbonara, which I don't usually like because I can't stand creamy pastas. A carbonara is a type of pasta you can find almost in every restaurant that serves pasta, but nobody does it with the sophistication of Sopra. Look at their presentation!! They don't drown their pasta in a bowl of runny white sauce. They put just enough to cover the spaghetti but to not make you nauseous. I love their sauce. I can tell they made it with quality ingredients. And the pasta. OH THE PASTA. The best pasta I've ever had, ever. The texture, the density, the al dente -ness of it, it's just magical. I can eat a huge bowl of just their spaghetti without any sauce or seasoning and I'll be a happy girl. Everybody that loves pasta must try theirs.

Sopra is one amazing Italian establishment. People say they have outstanding wine, too, but I don't drink wine. They have one weakness, however. Their tiramisu is very disappointing. I had it a while back and I can't bring myself to finish it. Granted, I had high expectations, because I once had this heavenly slab of tiramisu at a rustic, family-run Italian restaurant back in Dallas, and it was sooooooo good, I feel like it was a home-made tiramisu made by some lovely grandma in some Italian countryside. But Sopra's........the proportions are just wrong. Too much coffee soaking their ladyfingers, too little mascarpone, waaay too much cocoa powder. It's an insult to tiramisu, I think, especially taking in consideration that Sopra is an expensive Italian restaurant. So, just come for the pasta and pizza. And the soups. The salads are good too. They're quite pricey, but worth every penny. Pastas are around 60-70, the ones with prawns and salmon are above 100, the regular sized pizzas are around 80, and appetizers are around 50.

Right now, Sopra holds the title as the best Italian place in Jakarta, that I know of. 

FANCY INDONESIAN FOOD: Te Sate

FINALLY, TIME TO WRITE NEW POSTS!
Hello, I'm back with a plethora of pictures from this awesome Indonesian place called Te Sate. Okay so y'all know the restaurant Sate Khas Senayan right? So apparently Sate Khas and Te Sate are owned by the same person. Te Sate serves a more sophisticated take on Indonesian food from all over the nation, and yes it's more expensive, but they're GOOD. Some of their food are great and some of them are just plain good.
It's located in Pacific Place, 5th floor, right in front of the elevator, across Ootoya (an awesome Japanese place that serves Japanese home cooking). The place itself is huge ang goooorgeous.

I love their menu too, it's a kipas sate!!

I went with my mom and dad, so we naturally order a LOT of food. We had Rawon Buntut, Gado-gado, Sate Ayam Madura, Sate Lilit, Kepiting Soka Saus Mangga, Sambel Matah, and some Nasi Uduk.

I know that isn't a good picture but oh well. It's basically just regular rawon but with buntut instead of chunks of meat. I thought oh okay, rawon. It tastes good, flavorful, and the longer you let it simmer the spicier it gets (which is great). The absolute best part of this is the buntut itself. If you ever want to taste the definition of meat falling of the bones, this is it. It's SO TENDER and awesome and there is zero difficulty eating it. So yes it's pretty great, even tho I'm not completely blown away.

Sate Ayam Madura. Nama restorannya aja Te Sate kan, so I expect great sate. Sate Khas has amazing sate. This, not so much. The texture is great, really tender, tapi HAMBAR. Somehow rasa bumbunya ga cocok dengan rasa satenya, dan kayak ga ada rasanya, beda jauuuuhh sama yg di Sate Khas. NOT recommended. Kalo mau pesen sate, pesen yang dibawah ini:

THE BEST SATE LILIT EVEEERRRRR. Sate lilit disini ada dua jenis, bebek sama kepiting. Di piring ini ada keduanya. Semuanya enak, tapi yang kepiting HEAVEN. Gue sangat suka sate lilit. Di Bali hobi gue makan sate lilit. But this is better than anything I've ever had. Bumbunya itu perfect. Segala-galanya enak banget. Enaknya dua kali lipat kalo dimakan pake....

THIS AWESOME SAMBEL MATAH. Gue suka sambel. Gue suka sambel matah. Dan ini adalah sambel matah ter enak. Gurih, pedes, seger, paaaasssss banget sama sate lilitnya. Pokoknya kalo lo pengen sate enak seger, pesen sate lilit kepiting + sambel matah ini!!!!

You might ask wth is that???? It looks like a caesar salad but with sambel kacang and emping. Yup, its the weirdest gado-gado I've ever seen. But I know to not judge food by how it looks. It was decent. Fresh, but different. Tahu dan tempenya seharusnya lebih crispy dan nyeresep, tapi bumbu kacangnya enak. Decent lah, tapi porsinya banyak banget. It's pretty funny to look at tho hahaha

Last but not least, the glorious gloooorious Kepiting Soka. This is an awesome dish. Kepiting soka emang cocok banget sama mangga muda. Bener2 fresh, asem pedes seger kyaaaa suka banget. Kalo lo ga suka sambel mangga, lo akan mengubah pikiran lo dengan makan ini. Yep it's even better than the one in Din Tai Fung. Best I've had.
So, the verdict is, I love Te Sate because their food packs a punch. Flavourful and authentic. But its terrible sate ayam makes me mad, man. It's supposed to be their specialty!! Oh well, Sate Lilit FTW!!!!
Best enjoyed with mom and pops because of their steep prices. Like 90rb a dish steep. Yup, fancy Indonesian food it is.

WHERE TO EAT: Pacific Place

Hi! I'll be having a series of posts of where to eat in malls, and for the first in a series, it'll be about my second home, Pacific Place.
Pacific Place is a mall located in Sudirman Central Business District, right smack dab in the heart of South Jakarta. And 3 minutes to where I live. hahaha I go here everyday almost, sometimes more than once. I know this mall like the back of my hand, especially its restaurant.

okay, so first up! where do I eat when I want a light snack? I would love to say Subway, but that only happens in my dreams, because for some reason people don't eat a lot of sandwiches here thus resulting in the complete lack of Subways in Jakarta. So instead, I'll go to Kemchicks on the first basement to grab fresh turkey sandwiches or a tub of broccoli salad. Their deli section is outstanding, in jakarta's standards. It's SO INCREDIBLY hard to get a turkey sandwich here. Like you have no idea. So I was so happy when Kemchick's has it, seasoned with honey mustard just the way I like it. It will be even better with a slice of mozarella or a smear of cranberry though, but still. And their salads are good too! You can mix em in a bowl, they have broccoli salad, coleslaw, smoked beef and eggs, fruit salad, huzaren salad, and some more. They also have fresh greens with some toppings and various dressings.
Next stop, where's the perfect place for a healthy, guilt-free lunch? One answer for y'all: PURE. It's this organic restaurant on the 5th floor, beside Fitness First.

I was a bit skeptical about organic and healthy stuff, but it turns out they have quite a wide selection of food. I'm a HUUGE fish person, and I am very picky about how well my fish is cooked. For me, fish is tricky. It has to be perfectly cooked otherwise it'll be too squishy or too hard. But I love raw fish. I ordered the salmon and pasta, the salmon was awesome, pasta was awesome. Then another day I ordered the other fish with mashed potatoes, and it was awesome too. The vegetables were divine. And everybody must try their Yoguberry. It's this concoction of yogurt, berries, and some jell-o, and man was it good. The whole experience was just really light and feel-good. The best thing is I felt healthier after eating and not heavy and full of guilt.
If you want something heavier for lunch, you have SOOO many choices!!! My favorite is Sanpachi Ramen. I always order the Miso Ramen, and that's for a reason. It's practically the BEST ramen i've ever had. I seasoned it right, with a lot of spices and some butter, so the soup is heavenly and the noodles... oh those noodles. They have the perfect texture and thickness and density. My favorite noodles in a mall. (My absolute unshakable favorite is from Mandala restaurant, a chinese place that has been around since my mom was a kid) They have delicious gyoza, too.
Afternoon tea? You can never go wrong with Ya Kun Kaya Toast!!! Order their Traditional Kaya Toast, Yummy Cheezy Toast, with either their Teh or Kopi. The milk in their beverages are sooooooo good. I love them to death.
Best place for dinner is Sopra. This Italian place right above Coffee Bean is so good, it deserves its own post. Let's just say they have the best pasta in town and I'll leave it at that, and wait for my post completely dedicated to it. Its only weakness is its terrible Tiramisu. Shame, shame, shame.
Because Sopra has mediocre dessert, you better grab a couple cream puffs from the best, Beard Papa!! Get my favorite, the cookie pastry with vanilla cream. Their cream filling, there is nothing better than that creamy, sweet, light, cool, just completely beautiful filling.
Well, that's a day in the life of Attika in Pacific Place. I actually have done all that in a day.........that's how much I devote my life to this mall.
Stay tuned for the next mall!

pics off google